


The creature in me

by KawaiiPickle



Category: DBSK | Tohoshinki | TVfXQ | TVXQ
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Shapeshifters, M/M, Modern Era, Shapeshifting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-11
Updated: 2019-11-14
Packaged: 2021-01-27 16:56:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21395554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KawaiiPickle/pseuds/KawaiiPickle
Summary: Soon after his 30th birthday, Yunho finds out he got a house after his grandparents. Old house surrounded by woods.The house is nice, the community is nice, one handsome neighbor called Changmin is especially nice~ But some weirdcreatures coming out of the woods at night are a little less nice....
Relationships: Jung Yunho/Shim Changmin
Comments: 7
Kudos: 45





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> TBH I have NO IDEA where I'm going with this story. I just got the idea, loved the idea, needed the idea out of my system, 
> 
> but now I'm not sure what to do next with it =-='
> 
> So I can't even promise (for now) that there will be a continuation. TT_TT
> 
> No beta-ed, all mistakes are all mine and only. 
> 
> Comments and SUGGESTIONS ABOUT THE NEXT STEPS are very welcomed :P <33

Soon after his 30th birthday, Yunho finds out he got a house after his grandparents. Both are gone for a while now, but apparently some papers were lost and found and only now he could get his inheritance  
The house is on the suburbs of Gwangju; close enough to the city for it to be comfortable place to live for someone with a job and career, but far away to feel relaxed and buried in nature. The house has a large garden, pretty overgrown and neglected at this point. The garden abuts with a small forest, that later ends with some farmlands and another forest further away. All houses in this area are scattered around; Yunho doesn't even see his closes neighbor's house from his windows.

Yunho works as a choreographer and stage director. He loves his work and travels around Korea a lot because of that. But when he sprains his ankle badly during rehearsal, he is basically forced to go on a medical leave. Not happy about it, he decides to use it as a chance to check his new house and recover there. As soon as he can at least take a few steps alone, he packs, takes his dog, and leaves Seoul.  
He hires someone to clean the house before his arrival, so when he reaches the place, he feels like he's on actual holidays. He knows he visited his grandparents there when he was a kid, but he doesn't really remembers that. So he doesn't have any feelings or memories attached to this place. The cleaning company not only cleaned windows and floors, but also brought new bed linens and window curtains, so the place looks fresh and neat. 

First week he mostly stays inside, not wanting to overstraining his ankle. He only leaves when he lets Teapoong out; he sits on a chair and watches his dog run around garden. It's easy to see his husky absolutely LOVES this place.

When he feels his leg can take it, he starts to walk more and more and further away from home. He takes slow walks around the neighborhood and finally gets to meet his neighbors - the older couple living in the house closes to his, the middle age man living from his small farm, a few other couples, mostly older, living slowly and peacefully after hardworking youth.

The most surprising person in the area was a guy his age, handsome, with soft sophisticated aura, looking oddly out of place in this rural region. When Yunho saw his for the 1st time, both of them standing in the line in the local store, he thought he looks more like a high class model he would meet in the centre of Seoul, than a guy living in the Gwangju suburbs. Intrigued, he tries to ask about him in the most subtle and not creepy way.  
" Oh, his name is Changmin, he's really nice, but very shy." Auntie from the shop tells him. " He lives in the house on the other side of the forest, but he comes here only for a few weeks and then leaves. He said he's a game tester, but I don't really know what that means." She ends with a laugh and packs extra bag of home made soy bean paste to Yunho's groceries. "That's on me, you must eat more, boy!".

For a few days Yunho sees Changmin only from afar as they live in the opposite sides of the forest and village. Changmin usually wears knee high black boots and long brown coat and Yunho thinks, he looks like a deer. Maybe he looks out of place in the village, but strangely he looks perfect in the forest. He's tall and slim like trees, moves with a grace like thin branches moved by the wind and yunho thinks about making a stage performance about man born out of the woods...

A few days later they finally meet, in the middle of the forest. Yunho is just walking with Taepoong, Changmin is obviously coming back from the shop as he carries bags full of groceries. Yunho's heart beats fast, when he dares to shot his famous supernova smile and drop cheerful "Hi!" between them.  
Before Changmin gets to respond to that, Taepoong jumps to him to greet his as well, but stops halfway.   
"Taepoong, no! Down!" Yunho commands, but his dog just stands there and sniffs, like's he's conflicted and doesn't know what to do. Changmin is frozen as well, looking at his dog with big round eyes and only shooting Yunho short scared glances.  
"Truly, like a deer." Yunho thinks briefly and pulls Taepoong away.  
" I'm sorry, he's usually well behaved." He smiles. " I'm Yunho, I only moved here recently."  
" I know..." Changmin finally says with soft voice." I mean, auntie from the shop talks about you all the time."  
Yunho doesn't know what to say to that, so he only laughs again. But this awkward first encounter is enough for them to talk to each other whenever they meet and then even go for a walks together. Yunho finds out that Changmin is indeed a game tester, but also a designer and PROGRAMMER. He's from Seoul, but he bought this house because he needs quiet environment and he can work remotely anyway. He also loves cooking and watching soccer games. Yunho knows nothing about cooking, but he do loves football. He wastes no time and invites Changmin to watch some games together and the other man agrees with shy sweet smile.   
Yunho knows it's probably very stupid for him to get so interested in this guy, what are the odds for him to be gay as well - things like that doesn't just happen. But there's just something about Changmin that makes him unable to stop trying to stay in touch. Besides, they are basically the only guys in the same age in the village, it's not weird for them to hang out, right?

Changmin gets home and goes to his kitchen to unload his groceries. From his kitchen window he can still see Yunho with his dog, playing on the meadow on their way back home. Yunho has walked with him to his house and left after getting a promise of another meeting. Changmin tries very hard not to read too much into it - he knows how it goes too well at this point. Besides, the whole village talks about how friendly Yunho is, how he treats everyone as a friend immediately after getting to know them.   
That's just how he is, Changmin thinks. He doesn't know why he's so oddly sad about it, he only met this guy for the first time, he knows nothing about him.   
Except for the fact that he's so handsome and cute and ...  
Then Changmin sees a roedeer running out of the forest, near the place where Yunho and Taepoong has disappears between the trees.  
„Get a grip, Shim.” Changmin thinks again, his mood getting even worse. „The fact that the dude is probably not gay is seriously not your biggest obstacle, and you know it. Don't start something you know you have no rights for.”

A few days later Taepoong wakes Yunho right at the sunrise. He scratches on the door, asking to be left out so Yunho drags himself of the bed, still half asleep, let his dog out and goes back to bed. Some time later he hears a knock and then his dog's whines.   
Taepoong sits in front of his door, his ears up and eyes happy and alert. When he sees Yunho, he jumps and barks and only then Yunho sees his trophy.  
On his door mat lies freshly shed roebuck's antler. Single one, but beautiful, with some fur still attached to the bottom.  
"No freaking way!" Yunho gasps in disbelief. He has never seen them outside of some museums or so. He knew there were roedeers in these woods, saw a few of them, but never thought about finding something like that. "taepoong, you are unbelievable!"  
He's absolutely ecstatic about this finding, he cleans it the best he can, then takes all possible photos and sends to his family and friends. He can't wait to meet Changmin and tell him about that as well.

But then things get weird.

The following night, as soon as the darkness falls, Taepoong goes restless. He runs from window to window, door to door, like he's listening to something inaudible to Yunho. Sometimes he whines, sometimes he growls and no matter what Yunho does or says, he can't find his peace. Annoyed and spooked a little, Yunho takes him on a leash and goes outside to check around the house. At first he doesn't notice anything. But as he's ready to go back inside and scold his dog for an hour at least, he hears some noises in the deep darkness of his garden. Something, obviously pretty big, is moving around in the bushes between his property and the forest. He can hear twigs breaking under heavy steps and cold chill goes down his spine.   
"Who is it?" He yells but gets no answer. He feels watched - and not by a human being - and it creeps him out. At this point he though he got used to the weird noises coming from the forest at night. But this one - it was different.

They go back inside and don't fall asleep until the dawn. Only then the noises stop. 

The day goes by and nothing unusual happens. Yunho feels groggy because of mostly sleepless night, but other than his mood, everything seems normal. But then the night comes. And is as quiet as the night in wilderness can be. But Yunho doesn't hear any weird noises this time, no footsteps in the bushes. Teapoong is calm as well and that fact helps Yunho the most. If his dog was not alarmed, it means nothing strange was going on. Yunho goes to bed with lighter heart, thinking about sharing this story with whoever he will meet the next day.  
It's a deep night when Teapoong suddenly wakes him up with vicious barking. He runs like crazy from the his bedroom window do the front door, scratching on the wood like he's trying to rip the door apart. In the darkness Yunho almost trips over himself when he tries to switch the lights on, shocked and confused. Not thinking much, he rips the front door open to see what's going on. Only then he hears heavy and quick steps running behind his house, straight to the garden and the forest. The he can hear something big running through the bushes, further and further away until he can't hear anything anymore.  
" What the actual fuck..." He whispers into the night, shaking. He's sure it was the same thing that was here last night, but this time it was walking around his house? What the hell was that?? Wolfs? Were there wolves here? He will have to ask...

He talks to his neighbors, the old couple, the next day, tells them about both night incidents. The both look surprised. Nothing like that have ever happened to them, and no, there are no wolves here. Haven't been in decades. But who knows what walks around the woods...

After not getting any answers to the million of questions running around his head, Yunho takes his dog and decides to investigate the area.   
The bushes between his garden and the forest are a mess. Many branches and small trees are broken, the grass is stepped to the ground. There are visible hoof prints, but Yunho's sure they are way bigger than the roe prints he saw around. So what - a deer? Stag? He hasn't heard about them being in this area...

Yunho falls asleep with difficulty that night. His dog is calm and nothing alarming is happening outside, but he's still nervous. Can't stop wondering, what would some stag want from him or his house when there is the whole forest around. Yunho turn and tosses for most of the night, and when he finally sleeps, he dreams about eyes watching him over his window.   
When Taepoong suddenly jumps up and runs to the door with yapping, he's almost relieved and not surprised at all. Determined to see the intruder properly this time, he takes his torch, Taepoong on a strong leash and runs outside. Just like last night, he can hear steps running behind his house, so he follows. To his surprise the intruder doesn't run back to the garden, like last time, but rather further around his house.   
And then, in absolute disbelief, he sees huge deer stag, the biggest one he has seen himself, running straight into his, into Yunho's house - and kicking the door shut, leaving Yunho outside.

"No!!" Yunho screams, shocked. He pulls on the handle but in vain. He can hear the animal running around his house, can hear some glass breaking, things being tossed and tripped over.  
"What the hell you doing!?" Yunho shouts, mortified. This animal must have rabies, there's no other option. It's insane!!  
And then the door finally drop open and Yunho looks inside. When the door opened, the noises stopped. The lamp in his hall is broken, so Yunho can't see anything in the darkness at first. He lifts his torch with shaking hands - and then he sees him. For a short second - but feeling like an hours - Yunho looks straight into stag eyes. The creature stands in the middle of his hall- huge and completely out of place. It looks like he's holding something in his mouth, but Yunho can't see what is it. His eyes are big and dark, but there's some weird red spark in them when he looks at the human standing between him and the outside world. The tension stretches - then the stag grunts and runs straight in Yunho's direction. Yunho jumps out of his way the last second, pulling Taepoong as well. He falls on his ass as he watches the stag disappearing into the darkness.

What the fuck just happened~

Changmin runs and runs, desperately aware of the time running as well - running short for him. He can see the sky getting brighter in the east, the sun will be up soon - and then it will be over for him.  
He jumps over the fence and then runs into old shed. The shed is plastered to the back wall of his house, connected to it with short, but very convenient tunnel. Just perfect for a creature like him to get in and out of the house unnoticed. And finally, he's in his salon. Still holding the missing antler in his mouth, he grabs the second one that was waiting securely here, and now, complete, with his antlers together - he can finally transform back. 

When he feels the first pulls and cramps of the transformation, he almost sways with relief. The process is never pleasant, but this time it's almost orgasmic to him - the fear he has felt for the previous days and the relief of turning back into a human in the end - is a mixture he enjoys in the most twisted way. He's safe...

This time the transformation takes longer than usual. He's not surprised. The longer he stays in his animal form, the harder it gets to go back. The longer he's an animal, the more control over his brain the animal gets - and finally, it can take it over completely. It would have happened today, he could feel it. Every time he transforms, he allows the animal control him during the day, but he takes the control back at night. But it was getting harder and harder and he knew, with this sunrise, he would be lost in his animal forever. 

He needed his antlers back. 

He needed reach for this drastic actions.

He has never lost his antlers before. They were the essential part of his transformation and he always protected them with all his powers. 

But this time, SOMEHOW, he lost one. And this dog has found it. And took it. To Yunho! Of all people in this goddamn village, it had to be Yunho...

He falls on his knees when he's completely human again. He sways, braces himself on his hands and vomits. His head throbs and he feels exhausted, but at least he's safe and back and at home...

"If only I could make it up to Yunho..." He remembers the disaster he made of Yunho's house and how he obviously terrified the other man and he feels guilty. "I'm so sorry, but I had no choice."  
Too tired to do anything, he takes a quick shower and goes back to sleep.

Yunho goes to the local veterinary clinic the next morning to report the incident, still sure the animal must've been sick. He called the police as well, but after checking the place, there's not much more they could do. They told him to report it to animal organization so they would check the area for rabbis and huge weirdly invasive deer stags.   
He feels like they are laughing at him in a way and it irks him a lot. He admits to himself, that in other circumstances maybe he would laugh as well - but the whole encounter was actually terrifying and not funny in any bit.  
To his relief the veterinarian takes his story seriously and promises to start the control procedures right away. Relieved a little, Yunho gets back home to finally clean up the mess. And call the company to install a fence around his property. Very tall fence. And ASAP.

But the stag never comes back, again.

Only after cleaning the whole house and fixing what needed to be fixed, Yunho discovers the only thing missing after the deer break, is antler. He looks at the shelve when it used to be and is almost too scared to wonder.  
Is that was what the stag was after the whole time? Were there his antlers? But why...

What the hell actually happened here that night...

Yunho hasn't heard from Changmin for a three days now and he starts to be anxious. He knows they are not close enough yet for him to feel so entitled to his time and attention, but they were suppose to meet for a drink and for a walk as well, but Changmin hasn't replied to any of his messages and when Yunho passed by his house during his walk, the house looked dark and empty. He really wanted to tell Changmin about his horror-like experience, but the man disappeared.

"Oh, I saw his this morning, he dropped by only to get some food, said he needs to go back to Seoul for some urgent business." As always the shop auntie is the one who knows everything about the village.  
Yunho is mad at himself how hurt he feels.  
"This is what you get for letting your hopes to rise too high, Jung." He murmurs to himself, walking back home, kicking the stones like an angry schoolboy. 

Yunho ankle is completely healed by the end of the summer and he decides to go back to Seoul. He does it with surprisingly heavy heart, he got used to this place, even with some random wild animal encounters. But he loves the silence, the space, his new small community. He goes around the village saying his goodbyes and promises to come back as soon as he can. 

Seoul seems different now, louder and dirtier, but the job frenzy doesn't give him much time for nostalgia.   
Before he realizes the Fall is in full bloom, streets are covered with leaves and the air smells of smoke and wet soil. He doesn't think twice about what to do, when Choseok comes around - he goes back to his forest house.

He meets Changmin almost right away. As soon as he unpacks he takes Taepoong for a welcome back walk and they meet Changmin in front of their house. Changmin blushes when he sees Yunho.  
" Hi, I've heard you came back." He says in a rush, before Yunho can say anything." I wanted to apologize for leaving last time like that, when we were suppose to meet, but I got an urgent call and I had to leave immediately and...I'm Sorry."  
Yunho is surprised himself how happy it made him to see the other guy here and seeing he cared like that.   
"It's fine, really!" He smiles. "I was just worried something bad happened, but I'm glad to see you again."  
"No, nothing bad, just work related..." Changmin says and smiles back at him. For a second they just smile at each other and Yunho lifts his eyes to stare right back into Changmin's eyes. He always thought he has the prettiest eyes he has seen. Big and round and dark, with prominent lashes~ Every model he knows would sell her soul for eyes like that, Yunho thinks.

But then, as he looks into Changmin's eyes, he gets this sudden flashback, a flash of images in his head. Something that throws him off completely. Suddenly he sees an other pair of dark round eyes looking back at him - weeks ago, in the darkness of his hallway, eyes of the wild intruder who broke into his house in the middle of the night. He sucks in a breath and shakes his head to get rid of the image, shocked and surprised.   
Changmin frowns.  
"Something's wrong?"  
"No, no!" Yunho laughs awkwardly. What the hell was that? "My head just hurt a little, sorry."  
"Oh, then you should get some fresh air. Wanna go for a walk?"  
"Sure!" Yunho smiles, the weird flashback all but forgotten in a second.

For the whole month in Seoul Changmin thinks about "forgetting" Yunho and then deliberately creating a distance between them if they are going to meet again. It's just too dangerous to him to get closer to Yunho for so many different reason. He starts to like him way too much and it can only end up with heartbreak and pain. But also - Yunho saw him in his animal form and the encounter was definitely too dramatic for Yunho to forget it. He, Changmin, should really just stop meeting with him, cut and end things before they ends with a disaster.  
But when he comes back and finds out that Yunho came back as well, he gets completely deaf to these reasons. He tells himself he goes there only to apologize for going MIA lat time, but he knows it's just a lame excuse. When Yunho smiles at him and agrees for a walk, he knows he's still in trouble.

It is raining for the whole next day, so Yunho stays at home to work and doesn't see anyone. When the another day comes and the sky is clear, he doesn't wait much and goes for a long walk. Taepoong is almost going crazy with the lack of exercises yesterday, so Yunho thinks about going the extra long way around the forest and visiting Changmin on their way back.

The forest on the other side of the meadow is larger and thicker than the one next to his house. He doesn't know this one well, but there is one main track easy to follow that also passes by Changmin's house. 

They are only a few minutes into the woods, when Yunho hears something he has never heard here before. Gun shots. A hunters? Here?? Yunho had no idea hunting is happening here. Maybe poachers?

"Taepoong, stay!" He grabs the leash hard, not wanting to risk his dog to run into the wilderness and facing some tragedy. He thinks about what to do? Going further into the woods sounds risky, but he wants to visit Changmin. So he thinks about going around the forest where he would be more visible on the open space.   
But before he gets to make a decision, next events happen so fast he barely comprehends them.  
Suddenly he hears loud noise in the bushes in front of him, something big running in his direction, and then gunshots again - this time so much closer!  
"Hey! People are here, stop shooting!" He screams, terrified.  
The bushes in front of him sway and break and huge stag runs onto the road and stops.   
Yunho sucks in a breath.

He knows that stag. 

It's the one that broke into his house, he's completely sure. He doesn't know what makes him so sure, but he just knows. The stag looks at him and his eyes are clouded with fear and pain. Only then Yunho realizes the creature is bleeding, there's a big shot wound on his right tight. Another shot erupts from behind the trees and the deer cries out in pain as the bullet creases his neck.   
"No!" Yunho yells. " Stop shooting!!"  
He falls on his knees, hiding shaking Teapoong behind himself and looks at the stag again.  
"Run! Behind me! " He hisses and the deer seems to understand, seems to know what he is doing, because then he gathers his fading strength and runs, passing Yunho by and disappearing into the bushes behind him. 

Just then three men appear on the road, shotguns in their hands.  
Yunho gets up, his legs shaking like never before. He's terrified, but also so mad, he feels like killing someone himself.  
"What the fuck are you doing?" He shouts.

Still shaking like a leaf, Yunho walks slowly, but he can finally see Changmin's house. The hunters or poachers didn't really care about him or his outburst and just left after a minute, but Yunho still hope he managed to buy some time for the deer and the poor creature will be able to escape and heal his wounds. He decided to go to Changmin, still, as his house was closer and Yunho wanted to call the police right away. Taepoong goes by his side silently, also obviously shaken by the events. 

But when they get closer to Changmin's house, he suddenly stops. He looks alert again, the fur on his back standing up, a low growl leaving his throat.   
"What is it?" Yunho whispers to him. He can't see or hear anything suspicious. They approach Changmin's house and then Yunho sees the main door are wide open. There are blood stains all over the pavement but also on the door and walls. 

"Oh my god." Yunho's shaking again. He leaves Taepoong outside and gets to the house.  
"Changmin?!" He calls, absolutely terrified about what he might find. "Changmin, where are you?"

The scene that welcomes him in the salon makes him almost collapse.   
Changmin is lying on the floor, naked, with two big wounds - one on his neck and one on his right tight. He's unconscious, but he breaths, and the wound on his leg is bleeding badly.  
Yunho stands there, looking at him, desperately trying to understand what he sees - but also pushing the truth away. The placing of the wounds. It's the same, it can't be a coincidence. But how.  
It's Changmin, It was Changmin. Right now, in the forest. And before - in his house. It was Changmin.

A shapeshifter.

He really doesn't know what to feel or think or do. He just stands there, frozen on the spot. Only a spasm that suddenly shaken Changmin's body pushes him finally into some action.

He runs to Changmin's bathroom and gathers all towels, bandages and antiseptic medicines he can find. He runs back, dressesChangmin's wounds as best as he can in given situation and then carries him to his bed. 

Then he gets Taepoong inside the house, settles him in one of the spare rooms, far away from the blood and the shapeshifter.

Now he finally understand Taepoong's behavior whenever Changmin was around...

Finally he goes back to Changmin, sits on the chair next to his bed. 

And waits.

It's obvious he can't take him to the hospital, but everything in him screams at him to do just so. The wounds are not very bad, but Changmin obviously lost a lot of blood and that could be fatal. The wound on the neck is just a scrape, but the one on the leg is more serious - the bullet came across his body and Yunho can't check how badly things look inside. He just hopes the arteries there wasn't on the way.

Soon the fever takes over Changmin's body and he shakes and shivers violently. Sometimes he opens his eyes, but there's nothing human about his stare and it's obvious he doesn't see Yunho, when he looks at him. The red wild sparkle Yunho saw that night in his hallway is there again, but stronger and closer to the surface.

"Changmin, come back." Yunho whispers then at him, caressing his cheek. The red spark would dim then, Changmin would close his eyes and settle into more peaceful sleep for a moment.

In the darkness and silence of the night, Yunho thinks about some stories he has hears as a kid. Some told by older people who wanted to entertain kids, other more mainstream - all about humans who could change into animals. Not such a foreign concept in many cultures, in fact.   
But then he thinks about his one uncle - now he remembers he actually lived in this house - who said he knew someone like that. Yunho's mom said this uncle was insane.   
"I guess I'm even more insane now." Yunho thinks, when he looks at Changmin, so hurt and fragile now. " How insane I am for it to actually making sense to me?"

When the sun rises, the fever drops and Changmin seems to fall into deeper sleep. His face finally relaxes, but he's still very pale.

Yunho himself gets some sleep on the comfy armchair standing in the corner of Changmin's bedroom. When he wakes up, the sun is fully up and he can hear Taepoong scratching on the door of his room. Changmin is still asleep, so Yunho leaves with Taepoong for his morning pee-time. When they comes back, Yunho gets some breakfast and tries to cook something for Changmin to eat when he finally wakes up. Luckily for both of them, there are some leftovers in the fridge that Yunho can just warm up, and doesn't have to worry about additionally poisoning Changmin with his non-existing cooking skills. 

But it takes two more hours for Changmin to finally open his eyes. His eyes roam over his room and he looks lost and confused. Even more when he finally spots Yunho sitting next to him.  
"Yunho?" He whispers, his throat dry.  
" Yeah, it's me. How do you feel?" Yunho smiles softly.   
"What happened?" Changmin asks and tries to sit up. Yunho jumps up and gently holds him down.  
" No, don't get up. You are wounded, please stay still."  
" Wounded..." Changmin looks at him with confusion, but then Yunho sees his eyes going round - when he remembers previous day, when he realizes what it means, that Yunho is here...  
" So you know..."  
" I know."  
Changmin lies back down and looks away from Yunho, looks everywhere but at Yunho. Silence falls between them. Yunho sits back down, giving Changmin all the time he needs. When Changmin moves again, he gently touches bandages on his neck and his leg.  
" I really don't know what to say." He murmurs, still not looking at Yunho. " Except for thank you for saving my life yesterday, two times in fact. They would get me if not for you on that pathway. And then you stayed here with me like that... I don't think I can thank you enough."  
" Don't worry about that, it was an obvious thing to do..." Changmin is still not looking at him, so Yunho thinks about something to ease the tension. " Do you want something to eat?"  
" Have you cooked it?" Changmin looks at him surprised. He's aware of Yunho's cooking skills.  
" No, don't worry." He laughs. " I found some leftovers in your fridge."  
" Then yes, please." Changmin smiles back and some of the tension disappears.

Yunho leaves later in the afternoon for a moment, to take care of this things, as he explained wague to Changmin. He was suppose to go back to Seoul the next day, but he calls to cancel it until undefined moment in the future. He wants to stay with Changmin until he's healed.   
When he comes back, it's already night, but Changmin is still in bed where Yunho has left him. After helping Taepoong to settle down in the spare room, Yunho goes to change Changmin's bandages.  
" You really don't have to do it, I'm sure you have your own things waiting for you." Changmin says quietly, watching him cleaning the wound on his tight. " Besides...I actually...I heal faster than other... People do."  
It's the first time Yunho hears him talking about himself as someone "different", and it's still a little shocking. It's still hard to believe he can be this huge deer, when he lies here in front of him, all soft skin and beautiful human face.  
" I'm good. But if it's uncomfortable to you, just tell me and I'll leave."   
" No! It's not that!" Changmin grabs his hand, like he's scared he will leave. " I just don't want to be a burdensome to you."  
Yunho stills and looks at Changmin hand holding him. His touch feels hot, like a brand on his skin, and Yunho takes a deep breath.  
" Changminnie, I really like you." Changmin blushes a fierce red at his words, but he doesn't let go of Yunho's hand. " I'm more afraid I'm the burdensome to you, actually."  
" Never..." Changmin grips him harder, his eyes impossibly round. He breathes fast as he leans into Yunho. " Please..."  
Yunho head is spinning, reading the message in Changmin's eyes. He may not hear the words back, yet, but he feels them in the hot gaze and firm grip of his hand. Changmin kisses him, pulls him close and for a moment Yunho feels like he's flying over the trees, right into the stars.

"I want to protect you." They are lying on the bed together, the darkness warm and comforting around them. Changmin lies on his back, not wanting to overstraining his wounds. Yunho is on his side, holding Changmin's hand and gently caressing his fingers.  
" I...don't know how it works." Changmin whispers. He stops for a moment and only then Yunho thinks about all these years Changmin was all by himself, always protecting his secret, not knowing if he can trust anyone. " I don't know if I can...let myself...let you do it."  
" I won't ask questions, don't tell me more than you feel like telling. Just let me work for your trust."  
" What about your trust?"  
" Should I not trust you?"  
„ I don't always trust the creature in me...” Yunho barely hears that. He lifst Changmin's hand and kisses his fingers.  
„ I do.”

Changmin heals fast, just as he said he will, and after a few days he can walk again with no problems at all. He goes back to his work and Yunho goes back to his house. But they seek each other's company every day and there are more nights Yunho spends in Changmin's house than in his own. His phone is full of impatient calls and messages from Seoul, but he can't make himself to leave.  
A week after Changmin has left the bed, he wakes Yunho up in the middle of the night.   
Confused, Yunho turns the night lamp on and looks at Changmin. He's sitting naked on the covers, looking franticly between Yunho and the window.   
" What's going on?" Yunho asks, but then Changmin looks at him and Yunho sees a fierce red sparkle in his eyes.   
His heart speeds up.   
He knows.   
" I need to go, Yunho." Changmin whispers, looking a little wild and a little guilty. " I need to. I tried to smother it, but I can't wait any longer. I need to."  
"... ok." It's all Yunho gets to say, before Changmin jumps of the bed and disappears in the hallway. Yunho hears the door open to the shed he never seen inside before and after a minute he can hear a distant sound of running animal.  
" Changminnie..."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So here's the 2nd chapter. I'm happy I've managed to finish this story, I felt bad for not knowing how to follow.  
But now I'm actually glad with how it turned out.
> 
> Shout-out to captain_xann for giving me inspiring idea with her comment on Twitter<3333
> 
> What do you think???

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> short inspo backstory :P  
the scene with a dog finding an antlers in the morning and then some weird noises happening the next night - it actually happened to me. I actually live in an area similar to the one I've described here [just in Poland, not Korea] and we have roedeers etc. One one morning, like a few weeks before, my dog came back from her morning pee with roe deer antlers. And the next night there was something big running around the bushes and I though - lol prolly the roe looking for his antlers.  
And then I thought it sounds like a nice plot idea :p  
Esp with Changmin being the Deer On Court in the fandom

Yunho doesn't see Changmin for two days. He catches a glimpse of big stag one evening, when he comes back from his house to Changmin's. The creature stands in the shadow on the other side of the meadows, looking at him. Yunho stops and looks back, heart clenching. The trees are in all the shades or red and yellow now, the forest looks almost like an abstract painting in the early afternoon light. It's almost hard to see the stag on this background. Like he is blending with the woods, becoming one...

_"Are you ok?"_ He wants to ask, but he knows it's useless. _" I miss you."_

Deer bows his head slightly and runs back between the trees.

Changmin wakes him up in the middle of the 3rd night. Yunho stirs awake when he feels a sudden weight on his lap. He reaches up to turn the night lamp up, but Changmin grabs his hand and pins it down.

" No, leave it." He rasps, his voice hoarse. " Yunho..."

Yunho looks at him in the darkness. He can actually see him well. It's a full moon that night and the moon is shining right through the window, flooding the bedroom with cold light. Changmin is naked, his hair and skin still damp from the shower. He's a full human again, but Yunho feels like he's looking at some magical being. His skin glows in the moonshine and there's still a dim red sparkle left in his eyes. He has showered, but Yunho still can smell a faint scent of damp soil and resin surrounding it.

" Are you ok?" Yunho asks

" Yes." Changmin laughs softly. Then he shits and braces himself over Yunho. Yunho's heart speeds up when he looks at him. The way Changmin looks at him with burning eyes, like Yunho is his pray, completely on his mercy. " Yunho...You stayed. You waited. And stayed."

" Of course..." Only now Yunho realizes that Changmin is hard. He whimpers, surprised by the wave of desire that shoots through him. They have slept in one bed almost every night, but they haven't had sex so far, not wanting to rush things. It's going to change right here and now, Yunho thinks, and is completely ok with that.

"You stayed." Changmin repeats and rips the sheets from Yunho's body. He covers Yunho with his body instead, hot and burning like he's in fever again. "You're mine, now. My mate."

When Yunho wakes up in the morning, Changmin is lying on his side next to him and watches him.

"Dude, that's creepy, stop starring." Yunho murmurs and tries to hide under the covers to sleep some more. He's sore, but also more relaxed than ever and he doesn't feel like getting up yet. He reaches for Changmin to cuddle him, but when he touches him, he feels how tense he is. He looks at his partner with concern.

"Something's wrong?"

"I should be the one asking you that." Yunho is shocked to hear. " Are you ok?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Yunho sits up to look at his boyfriend properly. This is not the morning talk after their first sex he had wanted.

"Yun, when I came back tonight...I wasn't completely back into myself, yet." Changmin says with a small voice. There's a pain in his eyes. "I knew what was going on, but I couldn't control it. Have I...forced you?"

"What? No! I've wanted it completely."

Some of the tension visibly lefts Changmin. He sits up properly next to Yunho and takes his hand.

" This is what I meant when I said I don't always trust the creature in me. I don't always get the full control right away. I can't control what he does."

"But nothing bad happened, nothing I haven't wanted, nothing I haven't agreed to."Yunho kisses his cheek. He would do anything to reassure his lover that everything was fine. But..." But maybe you regret it?"

"No! Never!I just don't want to hurt you when I can't do nothing about it."

" Changmin, you won't. And I would not let you, trust me at least about that."

Changmin only nods. Yunho pulls him down for a kiss and they melt into each other. When they make love this time, Yunho makes sure to whisper words of encouragement and love to Changmin's ears whenever he could.

A few days later they both leave for Seoul. Yunho really can't postpone his comeback any longer and Changmin needs to go back to his main office as well. It's surprisingly easy for them to create their small couple world in the big city. Changmin moves in to Yunho's, since his flat is bigger. Yunho has to do a lot of apologizing, but he manages to save his job and career. The fact that his new performance about a beautiful forest man is a huge success definitely helps a lot.

It takes time for Taepoong to get along with Changmin completely. Somehow he can sense the wild animal in him even when he's a human, and he always seems confused by Changmin's nature and smell. But after some time - and a lot of snacks on Changmin's part – he finally accepts him as a part of the pack.

When the time for shifting comes, Changmin leaves to one of the forests surrounding Seoul and usually comes back after two days. Yunho always worries for him, even after Changmin reassured him he knows this place well and that hunting is strictly forbidden there.

Soon they fall into comfortable day-to-day routine and Yunho feels truly happy. It's easy to forget about the curse like that. The city shouts modern and futuristic, no place for fairytale and old times magic. And the way he doesn't get to witness Changmin's shapeshifting here, as he leaves to do it further away than it was in Gwangju - it almost feels like he just leaves for business trips.

Only the way his eyes shines with red for a few hours after he comes back and how he always have this distant smell of woods surrounding him afterwards, and how he always reaches for Yunho with hunger and single-mindedness he wouldn't show on other times. Only then Yunho would feel in full that's he's in a relationship with supernatural being...

" It happened to me for the 1st time when I was...14 or something." Changmin says one evening watching TV in Yunho's flat. With heart beating fast - he will finally hear more about Changmin's shapeshifter life! - Yunho turn off the sound and focuses his whole attention on his partner.

" I had no idea what's going on, I thought I was sick, some hardcore flu, whatever. I was shaking, my whole body was hurting, I couldn't think, all I could feel was this urge to run. But my mom knew. She handled me the antlers. I was even more confused by this, but when I touched them, I transformed. And suddenly I felt completely fine. I was in my animal for an hour or so and my mom didn't let me out of the house, cuz I would probably never come back. Then she somehow convinced me to transform again and this is how it started for me."

"But...So she knew? Is this some kind of...family thing?"

" Yeah, apparently. Apparently our family, my mom's family, is old as fuck, the beginning of the Joseon era, etc. And we had some ancestor then who was super close to a king. And he actually helped this king to become a king and was his main trustee. So he had a lot of enemies. And one of them was playing with black magic and he was the one who made my ancestor to turn into a deer every now and then. He couldn't tell the king about it as the king was extremely afraid of magic and would kill him. But he also couldn't serve the king properly while disappearing to be a deep for at least a day and night. So king has banished him. And since then at least one child in a generation was a shapeshifter. At first it was ending badly because when the new child transformed for the first time, he would just run away and never transform back. So one of my grand-grand-something mothers asked a shaman for help. But they've managed only to make these antlers like a helping tool, they help in transforming, make it easier and faster. Also they've managed to change it so it happened not in every generation. But yeah...I wasn't the lucky one, I guess..."

" So... Is this kinda like a curse?"

" I guess, technically, it is." Changmin admits. Then he laughs without a humor. " But when I hear a word "curse" I think about Disney movies, and this is a real life, Yunho, there is no handsome prince coming to save me with his true love kiss that will break the curse."

Yunho almost says "What about me?" to that, but shuts his mouth the last second. What the hell, Jung? He laugh with Changmin to cover up his confusion, but this conversation replays in his head for days after.

What if Changmin is wrong? If curses are a real life thing in the end, like the movie-kind curses - then maybe movie-like lifting the curses solutions were as true?

"So, how are you parents about all of that?"

"Well...Since it's from my mother's side, she accepts that, but I think she feels a little guilty. But my father...He was shocked. And mad at my mom for not telling him before the marriage, I guess he would not marry her, then. He doesn't really talk to me."

"..shit."

"Yeah, not only his son is gay, but also some freak of nature, not the combination a father wants."

" None of it is your fault." Yunho says, irked. His own family was always nothing but loving and supportive.

"I don't really blame him, Yun. And my sisters are terrified now to ever marry and have kids. I feel so bad for them."

They go back to Gwangju for Christmas and New Year's break. Changmin and his family are not celebrating Christmas at all and Yunho's family lives in Gwangju, so it sounds like the best solution for all. They spend the Christmas with Yunho's family, who fall in love with Changmin without any questions or conditions. But the rest of the holidays they spend together, taking long walks with Taepoong or getting cozy at home. The world outside is covered with thick layer of white snow and when they leave the house, the world is so still and silent, it seems like someone stopped the time. It's equally charming and scary and Yunho falls in love with this suburbs winter.

Changmin shifts on the second day of the new year. Yunho knows he was holding it back to spend the New Year's Eve with him, but there is always a point when he can't stop it any longer.

Yunho watches him run into the forest until he disappears from his view. As always in moments like this, he buries himself in his work, to make the time run faster.

When the third night comes and there are no signs of Changmin, Yunho's anxiety reaches highest levels. He can't focus on his work no more, he takes multiple walks with Taepoong, but they can't find any signs of big deer in the area. There are multiple hooves-prints of roedeers, but they are much smaller.

When the 4th days slowly fades away with the sun setting early, still with no Changmin, Yunho is so nervous he actually gets a nausea. Changmin told him himself, that 3 days is a max for him. After that, the animal gets stronger and it's hard for him to shift into a human. And now it was the 4th night coming and Yunho had the worst feelings.

"Come on, Taepoong, we're going to look for Changmin." He says finally, unable to stay still any longer. He packs some clothes and whatever he feels he could need. He will walk as long and as far as it takes until he finds his boyfriend - human or a deer.

_He just must find him. _

_He must know._

He is only closing the gate after them, when they hears a distant sound of a gunshot.

Blood freezing shiver of terror runs down his spine.

"No..." He breaths out and without thinking, runs into the direction of the sound.

Taepoong runs next to him and Yunho is still sane enough to worry about him, but it's too late.

They are wading through the snow, Yunho's throat burning from the cold. But soon the trees get dense and there's barely any snow on the ground, but it gets darker instead. He takes out his torch and runs further. Soon he can hear another gun shot, much closer this time. After a few minutes he hears some human noises and sees torch lights in some distance in front of him.

There's a small clearing between trees, three man with shotguns stand there. Yunho's blood boils when he sees them, but when he sees what one of them is holding - a pair of deer antlers - it almost makes him black out with fury and terror.

_Fuck, no..._

"What have you done..." He whispers, but loud enough for them the hear him. They look at him, surprised. Taeppong starts growling, recognizing Changmin's scent.

" Listen, dude, nothing for you here, go away or you may get hurt." Says the poachers who holds the antlers and waves with them in his direction with disgust. Yunho tries hard not to think what it can mean, for them to have them, he only thinks about taking them back as he knows how much Changmin needs them.

"Give me that back." He says hard, everything in him in the verge of breaking.

"Fuck of!

" Hand me over these antlers." Yunho repeats slowly, with cold steel voice. " Or I swear to God, I will kill you with my bare hands and my dog will help me gladly. And I don't care if you will shot me, I will kill you even with a bullet in my head."

There must be something in his eyes, the single-minded madness of a man fighting for the life of his loved one - because the poachers get pale and stare at him with shock.

" Dude, you're insane." One murmurs, finally handing Yunho the anlers, careful to not touch him.

"Now leave and never come back to these forests or I will find you."

"Psycho." Another man splutters in his direction. They flip him off and disappear into the darkness.

Only when he can no longer hear them, Yunho moves to check the area. The ground is trodden, but he can still spot deer hooves prints. There are no signs of blood, he notes with some relief, but it still doesn't mean anything. Yunho clutches the antlers and scans the darkness around him.

"Changmin!" He calls, on the verge of tears. Four days and four nights in his animal form, without his antlers, running away from poachers... "No, no!"

"Taepoong, sniff it, look for Changmin!" He gives the antlers for his dog to sniff. Taepoong has no experience in tracking, but he will try anything now. To his surprise Taepoong seems to catch a track on the ground, and trots into the woods. Yunho follows.

"Changmin!" He calls every now and then, but soon he loses the track of time. He can't really feel his feet anymore and his hands are freezing, but he refuses to give up. He doesn't even really know where they are anymore, he just follows his dog and prays with everything in him for a miracle.

_Must find Changmin. I won't go back without Changmin._

His head throbs with exhaustion, when suddenly Taepoong leads him outside the forest. He thinks he recognizes the area, but it's still hard to tell. The sky on the east is getting brighter and Yunho holds down a sob, when he sees it. He knows what it means, when the Sun rises...

The he sees a movement not far away from him.

A deer is standing near by, looking at him with dark eyes. A deer he would recognize anywhere.

"Changmin!" Yunho sobs and runs to it. Then stops, when the creature huffs and drops his head in warning. Taepoong growls and whines in confusion. It smells of Changmin, but...

There's no Changmin in deer's eyes, when it looks at Yunho again.

There's no red sparkle in them, only blackness and depth of a mind of wild creature.

"_No_..." Yunho shakes his head, refusing to believe it. "_Please, no.._."

He takes another step closer, and another. Taepoong whines behind him in warning and the the stag is kicking the ground, but Yunho doesn't listen.

_I won't go back without Changmin._

"Changmin, it's me, Yunho." He says softly and reaches out slowly. The stag pulls his head away from him, but otherwise doesn't move. He looks between Yunho and the open space of the fields and Yunho fears it will fly any second, running away from him forever. "Changminnie, it's me."

Finally he's in front of the stag, the creature towering over him. It smells of wilderness and cold, his body covered with needles and snow. Yunho lifts his hand again and touches its muzzle. Looks deep into its eyes.

"Changminnie, come back to me." He whispers. "I love you, please, come back. It's me, Yunho."

Stag kicks the ground again, but doesn't move his head away from Yunho this time. The tiniest spark of hope burns up, but Yunho knows, it will crash him, if it's fake.

"I know you're still there, Changminnie." He whispers again, feeling tears finally spilling all over his face. " Come back to me, I can't be without you."

Suddenly the stag tears his head away with a roar and jumps away. Cold fear freezes Yunho. He can see the sky getting brighter and the stag looking now in the sunset direction.

_Is it too late?_

"Changmin..." He sobs, suddenly completely aware of the reality of the situation - of everything he has just lost. Deer looks at him again and gathers himself for the jump and run.

But then violent spasm shakes his huge body and it sways on his legs. Stag roars and whines when an unknown force shakes and pushes his body on the ground.

Yunho watches it with shock, not understanding and still terrified.

The stag trashes on the ground, whining with pain, his long legs kicking the soil and snow around him, making it even harder to see. But even then Yunho can see the deer's body getting smaller, long limbs shifting into hands and legs, fur covered skin changing into soft naked one. But only when he sees Changmin's face appearing after another violent spasm, only then Yunho let himself to believe in what's going on in front of him.

"Changmin." He falls on his knees and gathers the naked man into his arms. "Fuck shit fuck! Changmin, you're back!!"

At first Changmin doesn't react, just lays limp in Yunho's embrace. Only after a moment he touches Yunho back.

"Yunho...?" Changmin whispers and Yunho pulls back to looks at him. He's pale and dirty, but otherwise looks ok. He never looked better in Yunho's eyes.

There's no red sparkle in his eyes.

"What happened?" He asks as Yunho helps him to get up.

"You tell me." Yunho murmurs. He quickly takes spare clothes out from his bag and helps his partner to put them on. He's still shaking himself, not fully comprehending what is going on. Just a few seconds ago he was mourning his loss, but now Changmin was here again, with him. "You weren't coming back, so I tried to find you and I've found your antlers and then you, but you were almost completely transfigured and I..."

He stops and looks at his lover, again overwhelmed. Changmin looks at him with round eyes, then blinks and looks away.

"I remember..." He starts quietly. " The time was running, but I couldn't get to the house, because these poachers were after me. Then I've lost my antlers and I panicked when I've felt the animal overtaking me. Then...then I don't remember anything, until suddenly I heard your voice calling me. And I thought I need to answer that, but I couldn't, but I tried and..."

Yunho wants to hug him tight again, just hide him in his arms forever where he would be safe. But he also starts to feel the cold sneaking onto him finally, when the tension starts to leave him body. Changmin shivers as well and Taepoong who sits patiently next to them, looks exhausted.

"Let's get home, we can talk later." He orders. Taking Changmin's hand in his, they follow the dog again.

To their surprise they don't need to walk long, only after few minutes they spot Yunho's house.

"I guess I still tried to go back to you somehow, even with the animal taking me over." Changmin comments, when Yunho voices his surprise. That makes Yunho's throat clench, so he says nothing.

It feels amazing to be inside the house again, together, warm and safe. They take a shower, still together, both of them not wanting to leave the other out of their sight yet.

They sun is above the trees already when they finally get to bed.

"Changminnie..." Yunho strokes Changmin's face. "You shifted without your antlers."

" You saved me again, Yunho." Changmin clenches his hand. "I only came back because it was you who was calling me."

"Changmin, you came back because YOU wanted to."

It takes Changmin two weeks to admit out loud that he no longer hears the call to shift. Not even once sine the dramatic events he has felt the animal in him, not the calling to transform and run. When Yunho asks if that means they've broke the curse, Changmin breaks into tears. He sobs on the floor while Yunho holds him.

"I can't fucking believe it..." Changmin says, nose full of snot and face wet. " I can't believe you were, in the end, the fucking Disney prince who came to save me from my curse."

Yunho snorts.

"Far from it." He shakes his head. "Stop plaing your own power down, you were the one who pushed the deer away."

"Only because you called me, Yun." Changmin kisses him. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

I takes two months for Changmin to fully relax and stop waiting for the curse to come back. One more month for him to tell about it to his parents. They refuse to believe it, but after some time they do and everyone is ecstatic. Even his father hugs him, when Changmin visits. He still warns them, that he can't tell if it's about the whole family, that it would not happen again - but it worked for him.

"So if that happens to our kids or grandchildren, what do we tell them?" His sister asks. "What's the solution?"

" True love's call." Changmin says, snickering about the cheesiness, but also - heart so full.

It takes another three months before they are ready to go to Gwangju again. Both were too scared and traumatized to walk through these woods sooner, but as the summer comes, they agree to go back.

"You know it's almost exactly one year since we've met?" Changmin says as they go back from shopping. Shop auntie almost cried when she saw them, saying how much the whole community missed them. Yunho is delighted, Changmin only blushes, but they are truly glad to be back.

"Crazy how things can change in a year, and yet be almost the same..." Yunho says and tosses the stick for Taepoong to fetch.

The area looks almost the same as when he came here for the first time. The trees are decorated with juicy green leaves and the meadow between his and Changmin's house is full of colorful flowers and weeds. He still can see roedeers here and there and the birds are louder here than anywhere else. But now he also knows the dark secrets of these woods and remembers his tears that soaked into these grounds.

"Do you miss it? Sometimes?" He asks, suddenly curious. Changmin hums, thinking.

" You know, it was nice sometimes. Was almost relaxing, like when I was stressed by work or stuff, it helped me to almost reset my mind and start new." He finally says. "But then I was stressing over poachers and transformation and everything else, so - no, not really."

" I think...I think maybe your ancestor was in fact in love with the king. But their love wasn't strong enough for them to face this challenge together, that's why the curse stayed."

Changmin takes his hand.

" Maybe. But we will never know this part of the story. Luckily we have our own."


End file.
